Why Aren't You on the Roster?

I was incredibly flattered, today, to find that Ian Capstick had named me on a list of 20 Leading Women in Social Media. The impetus for his list was Todd Defren’s list of Social Media Marketing Leaders, which included only two women. As Ian found this to be a surprising ratio, he posted a list of women he feels are leaders in this brave new world of social media. This list was augmented by Ian’s readers, and we can now find a pretty astounding list of women who inspire and move the social media space forward on the Media Style blog.

The conversation that follows in the comments on Ian’s blog centres strongly around the absence of women speaking at conferences such as MESH, PodCamp, CaseCamp, SXSW, Marketing Week, and TedXTO among others I’m sure.

Shortly after reading Ian’s post and the subsequent comments, I received a message from Alexa Clark asking why I’m not speaking at more events. Her blog post, “Why Aren’t You on the Roster?”, is a pointed and timely issue.

There’s been a lot of attention on this topic over the past weeks. In some respects, deservedly so and not surprising. Women are missing, as they traditionally are, from industry rosters and panels. I don’t feel any of this is part of a master plan to keep us out of the Boys’ Club, but it’s an issue we, as women, have to grab by the balls (yep; had to say it), own and correct through action. Respectable, professional action I might add. Whining about it and stamping our feet won’t move us forward. Stepping up to the plate, asking to be included, talking about it and being involved will move us forward.

To answer Alexa’s question though, I’m not on the roster by choice at the moment. I’ve received a couple of invitations over the past few months and for various reasons, which I won’t go into here, have chosen to decline. Does this mean I’m doing professional-woman-kind a disservice? Geez, I hope not. Why aren’t other women on the roster? I think many are. I think more can be, and I hope to be invited and on those lists in the not-too-distant future.

I also think we’re in a period of extreme and rapid change. A period of change that is accelerating at a rate that is difficult to keep up with. The technology industry has, for years, been a male-dominant one, as have many industries, and we are seeing more women in this space now than ever before – YAY US!

But in the grand scheme of things, on a timeline that is decades long, this is a short few steps on a path that will stretch out before us for many years to come. We are making strides. We are taking steps forward. We have to continue to ask to be invited to the table. We will see a greater balance of women to men at the table. We are in this for the long haul.

We can only affect this change by participating in it. Cliché, I know, but be the change you want to see. Don’t wait to not be invited to speak. Don’t wait until after the panel has been announced and complain that you were once again forgotten.

Own the outcome of this. Find the events and panels at which you believe you have something of value to contribute and ask to be included. Insist if you must. If you truly do have something of value to bring to the industry you will not be turned down. And then when you do it, do it with conviction, style and integrity. This is a trend we have to own and set.

There isn’t an end to this. We will not one day hope to be part of a female dominant space – will we? The point I’m making here is that gender should not be part of the criteria (nor do I think it is) when choosing speakers on a panel, mentors, or industry leaders. Vision, passion, courage, insight, wisdom, integrity, innovation, compassion. These all seem like far better criteria to me. Don’t they?

Photo courtesy of Rannie Turingan Photography

Time for a change...

I’ve become quite fond of “paigesaid” as a means to launch into a new way to talk about our world. All thanks to a simple change in my Twitter ID. I like the character it brings and have decided to incorporate it into my blog. Which I also intend to pay much more attention to now that I have somewhat of a strategy for it.

I’ve been hacking away in the blog space since last year some time trying to find my voice and place. There are a lot of people all talking about the same things with mostly the same perspectives. I don’t knock any of this. It takes courage to spill your heart and soul and thoughts on to a digital page for all the world to see – and criticize. Anyone who does it is exploring new ground and is making a huge contribution to the learning curve we’re all riding. I also don’t think it’s a bad thing that a lot of folks agree on what is good, bad and ugly about what’s going on out there. (in here?) I just want to be sure that I’m not part of the “me too” crowd blogging because everyone else is.

The challenge is finding something new to say. Which means finding a new way to look at things. I’ve discovered over the past few months that, when it comes to most forms of art (and life), I am infinitely more interested in the background than the subject of the piece. I find myself looking at photos and paintings and movie scenes to see what else is going on. I find myself listening to the subtle undertones of musical pieces to find the barely audible nuances. And I wonder what happened to get people to the place in they’re in today – and where it will take us all next.

This has greater context given that in my professional life I am more focused on what gets a company to where they are than where they actually are and then, more importantly, what’s next for them.

I’ve discovered that my time is only marginally spent in “now” and more often than not I’m engaged in, and excited by, the back-story or the next story. My mindfulness instructor would tell me to learn to live more in the now than these other places that have either past or don’t even exist yet; that all we have is now. I’m not so sure I agree. We also have what’s next. And that is very exciting.

So. The Blog. It’s not so much about the technology, or the brand, or the community. It’s more about how they all behave with one another. It’s about the actions and reactions to brand behaviour in the community and the use of technology to facilitate that activity. It’s also about the over use of the technology and the under utilization of what exists in real life. It’s about the people. It’s an observation of life from the skewed perspective of someone who’s lived and worked in a branded world for almost twenty years. Yikes. Did I just say that out loud? I’m not counting the years before I started working. I’m sure they mattered and I’ll probably explore the unconscious impact of brands, technology and community during our formative years at some point. At what age do we really become cognizant of the things around us that influence our behaviour on a level we can’t even actually identify? That’s a whole other post.

I look forward to sharing my observations with you and invite you to comment and question as we go along. If there’s something you’d like me to explore please feel free to let me know. I’m always looking for new ideas and can’t possibly come up with all of them on my own.

Thanks for taking a ride on the curve with me.

Patio Friday Round Up: Thoughts on Community

We landed at the Adelaide St. Pub rooftop patio along with the sunshine last week, this time with an added twist as we celebrated Darcy and Kevin’s birthdays.

As the conversation ebbed and flowed with the arrival and departure of various new and familiar faces throughout the afternoon it became more evident to me that the Toronto Twitter community is strong and bright. We have, as a group, leveraged the online communication utility for many great things, not the least of which is simply to form new and formidable relationships with people we wouldn’t meet otherwise. This, naturally, also leads to learning things and finding opportunities we wouldn’t otherwise.

Reflecting on the past few weeks of our new Patio Friday tradition I’m compelled to share some thoughts on what “community” means. I don’t think any of it is rocket science, but reaffirms what a lot of us may believe to be true.

In 2000 Robert D. Putnam noted in Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community that “in the US over the past 25 years, attendance at club meetings has fallen 58 percent, family dinners are down 33 percent, and having friends visit has fallen 45 percent.” (Source: Wikipedia/ Community)

I wonder if this divide coincides all too conveniently with the advent of personal entertainment devices such as the Walkman, hand-held electronic games, and the home computer. Along with this, the workplace became computerized and demands placed on the career-minded grew driving us out of the home, into the office and eventually into the home office. Interestingly enough the very technology that may have helped to pull our communities apart is now bringing us together in ways never thought possible.

I can’t help but believe that in the past three years alone, the Internet and specifically the proliferation of social networks has given us all an avenue to return to a sense of community that was all but lost in the 80s and 90s. We now have a way to connect with people near and far from us on a common platform with common interests that was never available to us before. We can find, connect and engage with people who think, believe and act like we do. Further, being the social animals we are, we are driven to take these new connections to higher levels and meet in person to form stronger, more meaningful bonds. This isn’t an entirely new concept, if you think about dating sites and chat rooms that have been around since the 90s, but the technology has become friendlier, personal computers are in most homes and people in general are becoming more technologically savvy. I wonder also, if we’re all feeling the unnatural disorder of not belonging to a community disrupting a very primal need, thereby driving us all to find a means to create communities that have been sorely missed for years.

There’s no shortage of books and blog posts on the topic and I’m not planning to jump on the bandwagon, but I’ve started a list of the things that make a community a community. It’s by no means complete and I look to you to add your thoughts on what I hope to be a growing definition of community as it pertains to what we are building here and now. This is an exciting time in our lives and I’m personally thrilled to be part of it, learning every step of the way with all of you. I look forward to your comments and additions to the list. Let’s see where this goes, shall we?

1. Regardless of professional or personal standing, the community accepts, supports, and encourages its members.
2. The reciprocal energy found in a healthy community is irreplaceable. It carries its members through the tough times and celebrates with them in good times.
3. Community is a natural phenomenon. It can’t be forced, bought or fooled.
4. A community grows because it is not just built, but nurtured.
5. Communities are flexible. They expand and contract as necessary to allow for change.
6. Communities listen, observe and challenge those within it with the common goal being success and achievement.
7. Communities are people who choose to belong to a common purpose, belief or goal.

Patio Friday Round Up

@rochlatinsky
Idea girl, perpetual volunteer,people wrangler, geek| Available for hire

@AlexaClark
serial entrepreneur, chief cheapeater, photographer & social media addict
Alexa's Blog

@AprilDunford
Product Marketing / Product Management consultant, formerly of Nortel, IBM, Siebel and others.
April's Blog

@Erin_Bury
Community Manager @RedWire, online network for entrepreneurs. Journalism grad w/ tech PR background. TwestivalTO co-organizer. Self-professed nerd. Shopaholic.
Red Wire's Site

@Smack416
UX practitioner and lover of design, typography, photography, music and life.
I Need Sugar Blog
Say Yeah's Site

@Matt416
UX design/developer @ Say Yeah! I'm also an HCI and psychology hobbyist.
Say Yeah's Site

@Xclarke78x
# Bio I am a web devloper + designer based out of Toronto. Currently working at http://www.yousayyeah.com Loving work and life!
Darcy's Blog

@KevRichard
Recent Marketing Grad. Writer and analytical thinker.Interested in tech, social media and digital strategy.
Kevin's Blog

@philmoreira
Web Developer for TD Bank. I like tech/web stuff, WoW, hockey and back and forth banter with my TO peeps. Official Ambassador of #HOVA.
Phil's Blog

@RJToronto
Displaced West Coast Buddhist hippie, advocating for refugees and human rights!

@Hyfen
The guy behind @torontoist, CUSEC co-Chair (student software conf), Varsity online editor, UofT computer science student, Ruby developer, cyclist, photographer
Andrew's Blog

@RohanSJ
I help innovators create online products and services.
Rohan's Site

@flashlight
Husband. Dad. Designer. Reluctant entrepreneur. In that order.
Peter's Site

As for the Adelaide St. Pub? Awesome patio with great food, service, drink selection and WiFi. It isn’t a cheap lunch spot but well worth it if you’re in the Spadina & Adelaide neighbourhood looking for sunshine and a place to call home for a couple of hours.

Photo Courtesy of Lee Dale (@smack416)

Patio Friday June 19, 2009

Last week’s Patio Friday was another fantastic day. With the imminent threat of rain in the forecast, our good friend Karin suggested the covered rooftop patio of The Pilot in Yorkville. To our oh-so-pleasant surprise the sun shone brightly over our afternoon and we lingered from noon or so until after six o’clock with some new and familiar faces.

I’ve always known that Toronto is a hotbed of business, technology and artistic talent and have had that insight tuned sharply over the past few weeks as Patio Friday has seen a steady rotation of engaging and bright people join us at the table for good food, beverages and lively conversations on life, love, and the world-at-large.

It’s not all fun and games though. Productivity can be pretty high when people are relaxed and with other like-minded folks. Prime example: the past few Patio Fridays have given the crew from Say Yeah great opportunities to hammer out ideas on some awesome projects with World Wide Web Foundation, TO Events Calendar, I Need Sugar Launch Party and more covert ops I’m sure will see the light of day over the Summer months. Hey, if you’ve got to work on a Friday afternoon, why not do it in the sunshine?

Last week’s conversations included the Iran election and the impact of social media on world politics, international import/ export of food products, urbanism and the impact of this shift on the economy, interpersonal dynamics, travel to Kenya, and new projects on the go including exciting stuff from @qasim, @shopcauses and @zoocasa. While the intent of Patio Friday is not to sell or promote any business, product or service, we can’t help but share the cool things we’re working on; we are, after all, a passionate community.

Those of you that aren’t able to join in the fun and meet these awesome people should still have the opportunity to know who joins us and what’s going on in the city. To this end we’re going to introduce you to the awesome people that sit at the table each week and offer a brief review of the restaurant. Consider this an expanded #followfriday supplement. If you’re not already following these fine people, check them out!

@SaulColt
Mayor of Twitter, Smartest Man in the World, Head of Magic (R) at Zoocasa.com and graduate of the Handsome Boy
http://www.saulcolt.blogspot.com/

@RJToronto
Displaced West Coast Buddhist hippie, advocating for refugees and human rights!

@MissVerna
Solutions Specialist at MSN TO. Sometimes I know what I'm doing. Sometimes I fake it. Happily married mom of 2!

@craigritchie
Web Strategist, Entrepreneur, Usability, Community and Social Media Builder. Generating and cultivating Big Ideas.
http://www.craigritchie.com/

@thekarin
Fun, energetic, traveling foodie arty ENFJ trendhunter ninja at Cyberplex; into Advertising, Social Media and Strategic Planning. Travel, joy, design and film
http://thekarin.wordpress.com

@KevRichard
Recent Marketing Grad. Writer and analytical thinker.Interested in tech, social media and digital strategy.
http://kevrichard.wordpress.com/

@Qasim
Canadian web producer, audio visualist/ new media experimenter, dj, amateur chef and well, the list could go on forever...
http://www.qasim.ca/

@CamDePutter
Consultant at Toronto PR agency. VP Marketing for local networking org CAWEE. Love great communications, cool business stuff, and food.

@Paul_Henman
Englishman living in Canada; scrum master / agile project manager; Linux geek; F1 fan; badminton player; photographer
http://henman.org/

@JeremyWright
dude @ b5media
http://www.ensight.org/

@hyfen
The guy behind @torontoist, CUSEC co-Chair (student software conf), Varsity online editor, UofT computer science student, Ruby developer, cyclist, photographer
http://hyfen.net/

@Merlene
One of the ElevenMoms, I'm a full-time Geekette and proud of it. One half of the TwestofTO team.
http://www.frugalfamilylife.com/

@RandyMatheson
Toronto based Social Media Strategist, Interactive Designer and New Media Know-it-all at Delvinia Interactive. One half of the TwestofTO braintrust.
http://randymatheson.blogspot.com/

@Ali_Johnson

@MikeLevitt

The Say Yeah crew was sorely missed, but had important stuff to take care of that sadly could not be done in the sunshine. You can learn more about them here.

And last, but not least, the patio review. The Pilot is a great spot! It’s one of the few rooftop patios in the city – with the added benefit of retractable canopies for rainy days. The menu is chock full of tasty treats, the prices are reasonable and the staff is super friendly – even if slightly over-whelmed by a large group of people coming and going throughout an entire Friday afternoon. Check them out the next time you’re in Yorkville looking for a sunny meal and nice people.

Since early May we’ve spent time on patios in Kensington Market, St. Lawrence Market, Yorkville, and King St. West. Feel free to let us know if there’s a patio in the city you think we should check out or join you on. Ideal spots will be able to accommodate large groups and WiFi – western exposure for optimal Vitamin D is a big plus! Have laptops. Will travel.

Get in touch with us on twitter: @PatioFriday, @PaigeSaid or @Smack416

Photo courtesy of Kevin Richard

Transparency in Social Media – Facebook Does it Again

Interesting activity today specific to Facebook’s change of its Terms of Service. It was first brought to my attention this morning via the Twitter feed. A random post linking to the Consumerist article, “Facebook's New Terms Of Service: We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever" caught my attention and does a great job of breaking down the issue.

I was immediately surprised that Facebook would allow such a thing to happen after the Beacon debacle. I wasn’t surprised that the omnipresent super power would claim rights in perpetuity to anything anyone ever posts ever forever and ever – this is what evil villains want. I was surprised that they would affect such a far-reaching change to their basic terms of service without notifying members of the change and what it means to them. As a social networking “leader”, and one who has lived through a similar circumstance with Beacon, one would think that a lesson in transparency had been learned.

Following a day of what I’m sure was pure PR chaos, Mark Zuckerberg finally posted, at 5:09pm, a response to what had been ricocheting throughout the webverse, “On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information”.

To a certain extent, I understand Facebook’s position on data, ownership and the responsibility of that ownership. What I don’t understand is their lack of transparency and ownership of the situation. The terms of service were changed “a couple of weeks ago”, according to Zuckerber’s post.

A couple of weeks ago!? As an active member of the network, I am disappointed that I wasn’t notified that a change to the management of my content and its ownership had occurred. While I recognize that their terms, as is common practice with most social network sites, are “subject to change”, isn’t their some responsibility o the part of the operator to advise its users when their very rights are being modified as a result of a change to those terms of service? It’s a social network for Pete’s sake. Post a notification of the change!

As brand and communications practitioners we coach our clients daily about the pitfalls of failed transparency in a transparent world. Users of social networks, and the Internet in general, are savvy. While it took “a few weeks” to pick up on this change, we picked up on it nonetheless and THAT is exactly what has many incensed by what appears to be deception on the part of Facebook. Had they announced the change and afforded users the opportunity to pull their content prior to this coming into effect, this would be a different story to tell. Instead we’re now reading reams of posts about the evil villain Facebook, attempting to take over the world a la Lex Luthor.

I have to believe that most users of social networks know that their information is being used for some benefit to the provider of the service and to a certain extent we must all be aware of this. (See my post May 2008 In Defense of Facebook, Caveat Emptor). And now that we’re aware, the providers must behave accordingly.

The fallout? Yes, some will delete their profiles and leave Facebook. Most may still not be aware of this change to the terms of service. I, and many others I know, won’t leave the site but will be far more cautious about what we post to the site.

The lesson to be learned here is that the user audience cannot – and will not – be taken for granted. Transparency is critical to the management of any reputation, particularly those that live and breathe on line.

Want to read more? Check out this summary on Mashable by Adam Ostrow and an equally insightful interview post by Ian Capstick on MediaStyle.

An interesting side note: Twitter relinquishes rights to anything users post, but if your Facebook status or Friend Feed is auto updated Facebook owns your tweets. Forever.